Amphibian road mortality drops by over 80% with wildlife underpasses, study shows.
Study: Wildlife underpasses save amphibians
Timothy Page
VT Headlines: Waitsfield targeted in sophisticated financial hack for $81,000
Vermont Veterans Outreach Program to face shutdown without congressional funding; Federal judge in Vermont orders release of Russian-born Harvard scientist; Rutland City school board and union ratify a teachers’ contract; Essex Development Board resumes public review of Amazon warehouse proposal
McCallum: Should I stay, or should I go?
Most of the people who go to college in Vermont — 57 percent — leave the state after graduation. That’s more than any other state.
Federal Judge says Murder-for-Hire civil lawsuit can resume
A federal judge has agreed to allow a long-stalled wrongful death lawsuit to resume against a California scientist convicted last month in Burlington for being the mastermind in a cross-country murder-for-hire-case seven years ago in Danville.
Hornblas: Life, death, and a new Vermont Health Commissioner
The increase in deaths is only the tip of the iceberg. We are also failing in all of our health outcomes, across the board. Schools and businesses have struggled to find enough staff who are healthy and able to work, and health facilities are flooded with patients.
Digital wildfire: NotPetya, the most destructive cyberattack in history
How Russia weaponized America’s hacking tools to burn down the internet, and how Vermont lays vulnerable
House passes Gender X license bill
This Vermont bill is a response to a January 20 executive order issued by signed by President Donald Trump, mandating that federal agencies, including the State Department, recognize only two sexes (male and female) based on biological sex assigned at birth, effectively eliminating the “X” gender marker option for passports and prohibiting gender marker changes that do not align with birth certificates.
VT Headlines: VT’s community radio stations get state funding for disaster response work
Rutland City School Board ratifies teachers’ contract in unanimous vote; Killington Select Board candidates call for financial audit to move forward
Roper: Democrats go full partisan on education reform
Kill bipartisan bill in favor of special interests.
Klar: Vermont’s Middlebury College should not receive Federal funding
DEI, CRT, and anti-Semitism must go!
Samets and Feldman: Vermont legislators have a chance to save Jewish lives—now
Vermont is the only state in New England without any Holocaust education standards, despite bills being introduced seeking this change since 2017. By equipping Vermont’s educational institutions to confront this hatred directly, H.310 not only offers protection but also affirms the dignity and identity of Jewish Vermonters.
Soulia: S.124: A decade of drowning in Vermont’s water policy
Ten years and over $200 million later, Vermont is right back where it started—struggling to comply with the Clean Water Act, while farmers, taxpayers, and lawmakers all try to catch their breath.
Klar: What’s controversial about the MAHA commission report?
Conflicting reactions suggest it hit the sweet spot.
Letters: Bruner and Mazur on anti-semitism
This is a classic example of an unhinged, white female liberal who sits in her cozy home reading the leftist propaganda known as the “failing New York Times”.
Vermont third in northern border encounters during Biden admin
Vermont had 59,298 encounters during that period, compared to just 82 in New Hampshire, which has a narrow border with Canada and no cross-border interstate highway. Vermont has two interstate crossings.
When Vermont barn dances were all the rage
Someone’s grandparents always seem to remember one, and sometimes you can still find the scruffs and scrapes of shoes and boots on the floors. But where’d those hoedowns go? What were they like? And what did they do for small, rural communities?
VT Headlines: Burlington man credited with saving woman from burning condo
Vermont, state officials honor fallen veterans for Memorial Day; Burlington businesses feeling strain from downtown construction; Route 5 reopens after tractor crash in Hartland
Fernandez: Behind Hamas, you will find BLM
Shalomyah Bowers, a leading administrator with BLM Global Network Foundation, was sued by the organization for “siphoning millions “from the group into his own “personal piggy bank.”
Police investigate fatal shooting in Brandon
Vermont State Police officers are investigating a suspicious shooting death of a 46-year-old Brandon man over the weekend. The victim, Brian Bailey, was found unresponsive inside his home on Champearl Road shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday, state police said in a news release. Bailey was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders, police said in the release.
Harrison: Sausage-makers grinding out housing, school funding bills
The legislative process is sometimes likened to sausage making, not pretty to watch. That was certainly true last week at the State House with education reform and a major housing bill being considered.
Despathy: VT media’s climate propaganda strikes again
Vermont Public’s propaganda superficially simplifies a complex issue into ‘the Democrats want climate policy and the Republicans are pushing back’.
Deal: On guard, and for our Guard, on Memorial Day
Let us today never forget what such a memorial means for our freedoms, and for those we love. Let us never stop striving to do better for those who have given everything imaginable to us all.
Congress kills California/VT gas car ban
Congress has passed a measure to overturn California’s phased-in 2035 ban on the sale of new gas cars.
Roper: Unless it lowers taxes, vote NO on the education “reform” bill
Don’t just do something for the sake of doing something.
VT Headlines: Vermont’s Jewish community reacts to Israeli Embassy staffers killed in DC
Vermont state auction draws deal-hunters from across the Northeast; School board ratification vote on Rutland teachers’ contract postponed, rescheduled for next week
Jesses: Young people need civics
Upon graduation, our students need to be aware of how steeped our country is in values that recognize both the uniqueness of our form of government and how exceptional our country is in offering Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness to all without regard to religion, race, sex, ethnicity, or other demographic factors.
Klar: The vindication of Dr. Bhattacharya
Banished by the medical establishment for resisting Covid policies, he now runs the agency that made them
VT Headlines: Rutland teachers union votes to ratify new contract with city school district
Wild lake trout populations have rebounded in Lake Champlain. But scientists don’t know why; 120-mile kayak trip across Lake Champlain to benefit athletes with disabilities
CLG: Biden officials hid deadly health risks of COVID vaccines, bombshell Congressional report reveals
U.S. launches doomsday Minuteman III nuclear-capable missile in dramatic show of force; Senate votes unanimously to eliminate federal taxes on tips
Most fentanyl and terrorists enter through northern border, FBI Director Patel says
The majority of illegal border crossers were reported in New York, Washington and Vermont, The Center Square reported. In addition to arresting human traffickers and violent criminals, U.S. authorities have arrested alleged Islamic terrorists, including an Iranian with terrorist ties living in Canada and a Canadian woman who tried to poison President Donald Trump, The Center Square reported.
Soulia: Is 600,000 too small to count?
In a recently released open letter to Governor Phil Scott, health educator and Vermont Stands Up director Amy Hornblass raises a stark question: why has Vermont’s Department of Health not investigated the state’s persistent surge in excess deaths since the onset of COVID-19 restrictions?
Feds DOGE $4 million earmarked for City of Montpelier
The city was notified that $2.5 million for water main replacement and $1.5 million to elevate a 20-unit building on Elm Street damaged by 2023 floodwaters will not be funded.
Bean: Mad River devastation and the growing geoengineering dilemma
In conversation over the weekend many Vermonters pointed out that it seems to be rainy every single Saturday! While this may seem like a classic complaint during mid-May, this recent flood in the Mad River Valley certainly triggers memories of floods in Vermont in recent years.
VT Headlines: One person hit and killed by train in Essex Junction, police say
Public meeting to discuss VT’s environmental protection rules this Thursday; Susan Stock: Proposed SNAP cuts would hit Vermont hard; Can U.S. residents get vaccines in Canada: Experts say yes, but at a cost
Mills: A new IEA report and the Iberian Blackout end dreams of an ‘energy transition’
Systems that can deliver reliable power at the scales necessary for robust growth remain anchored in precisely the fuels the transitionists want to abandon.
SCOTUS restores Rep. Laurel Libby’s floor privileges, enjoins Maine Dems’ censure of her
Late last month, Rep. Libby filed an emergency petition to the United States Supreme Court, asking for their intervention in her lawsuit against Speaker of the House Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) over the fallout from her party-line censure earlier this year that stripped her of her rights to speak on the floor or vote in the legislature.
CLG: Trump says U.S. close to a nuclear deal with Iran
Joe Biden diagnosed with ‘aggressive form’ of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone; Trump accuses Biden’s advisors of treason; Israel may strike Iranian nuclear facilities
McGuinness: S.28 legalizes modern-day equivalent of coat hanger abortions
Vermonters were told passage of Article 22 would keep abortion rare, safe, and legal, yet this new law opens the floodgates to unsupervised chemical abortions, making them common and dangerous, yet still legal.
Legislators preview enviro bills for next year
A House committee recently heard the introduction of seven new bills covering five topics legislators hope to tackle.
VT CO2 emissions down 20%, but it’s still not enough
State misses emissions goal, despite fossil fuel use and pollution reduction, report says. Lawmakers earlier this month listened to the report.
Roper: Unpaid Leave Bill comes with a cost
Another unnecessary hit to small businesses.
Keelan: A college education — How it has changed
What has happened in the last two or three decades that has put college operations on the front page?
VT Headlines: Hazardous materials spill closes Williston roadway for five hours
Freed from ICE custody, Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi graduates from Columbia; Fewer Vermonters are dying from opioid overdoses, mirroring national trends
Letters: Edmunds on surviving a system of advocacy
Pratt on “The Trillionaires Are Coming,” and Jablow on banning hounding.
Livingston: Government corruption is educating future generations
Forget textbooks. The actual civics lesson kids are absorbing is that accountability is for the weak. That truth is optional. That the loudest person wins. This isn’t some abstract worry—it’s cultural conditioning.
Bossange: Speak out before it’s too late
Trump’s MAGA Party took over the entire Republican Party and enforced internal party discipline by using political threats and intimidation to stamp out all dissent
Three-time Bradford felon facing murder charge for missing friend
James D. Nickles Jr., 42, is now facing a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Corey Crooker, 43, of Bradford, according to records in Vermont Superior Court in Chelsea. Judge Daniel Richardson also found probable cause for a felony charge of unauthorized removal and disposal of a body without a state permit and with a misdemeanor count of false information to Vermont State Police.
Burlington gun ban bill now in House
S.131 and the end of Dillon’s Rule? Burlington gun ban tests Vermont’s Constitution and State authority
VT Headlines: Severe storms leave several roads washed out, rivers rising in Vermont & New York Saturday
‘Let’s get back to work’: Greensboro grapples with vote against affordable housing project; Former AHS Secretary Mike Smith shares plans for reviewing UVM Health Network costs; Middlebury women’s lacrosse punches ticket to NCAA semifinal
Fireovid: HHS says puberty blockers high-risk, low benefit
This comprehensive review prioritizes evidence-based medicine and questions the treatment of minors with irreversible medical interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries.
Rodgers: Tilting at windmills won’t get the hay in the barn
It’s time we refocus our efforts on the issues that matter most to Vermonters. Let’s prioritize practical solutions over costly legal battles. Humility and hard work, not hubris and fantasy. The farmer’s way. The Vermont way.
Blotter: Cattle dispute escalates to assault
Police seek help in finding missing Enosburg woman; Man arrested in Norwich University sexual assault case; Lyndonville man arrested on felony, misdemeanor warrants; Woman arrested after domestic assault in Reading
Soulia: Why won’t DCF disclose who’s using the system?
Department refuses to release even anonymized data about where recipients came from — or if they’re from Vermont at all.
VT Headlines: Family related to Winooski Superintendent self-deports following notice from ICE
US Department of Justice ends 3-year racial discrimination settlement early at Twin Valley Middle-High School; Federal judge in Vermont hears conditions for formerly detained Tufts students’ release
How tariffs could hurt or help Vermont agriculture
The state’s agriculture industries are paying close attention to prices on products they use.
Lake Champlain shipwreck program to expand access to non-divers
Yellow buoys mark the wrecks’ locations, and divers can follow their lines down to submerged signage identifying each.
CLG: Secret Service probing ex-FBI chief James Comey for allegedly threatening Trump
U.S., China strike deal after extensive talks in Switzerland as Trump official touts ‘resolving’ ongoing trade war; Trump to sign executive order to reduce cost of prescription drugs and pharmaceuticals up to 80%
VT Headlines: NTSB releases report on Mount Equinox plane crash
Vermont City Marathoner prepares for last leg of her training; Vermont Supreme Court holds Vorsteveld farm in contempt, clouding farm’s expansion bid
Klar: Native Americans take on Wokism
The public battle over the name “Massapequa Chiefs”
Deal: Vermont National Security Consortium needed
Maybe it takes a flatlander like me to say: you may not always feel it, but Vermont is one of the best examples of such values and bipartisanship in the nation.
Accused killers from MA face federal drug charges
Fabrice “Savage” Rumama, 21, and Samuel “Smitty” Niyonsenga, 19, are charged with knowingly and intentionally conspiring with others to distribute crack cocaine and more than 40 grams of fentanyl between September and October 2024 in Vermont and elsewhere.
Thayer: Trump ’47 makes progress on education, energy, tax/tariff
Trump is doing everything that he and his Vice President JD Vance campaigned on to win back the White House from the disastrous former President, Joe Biden. He is knocking down Biden’s policies and getting rid of the deep state and lack of due diligence from the five prior Presidents.
North Country Hospital nurses celebrate and receive awards
This year’s awardees are Katrina Bennett, RN for Commitment to Quality, Jennnifer Lavelle, RN for Commitment to Professional Growth, Lucy Carpenter, LPN for Commitment to Customer Service, and Bruce Muir, RN for Commitment to Community.
Livingston: Trump’s tariff chess
A game-theory breakdown for the NDD (Narrative Dependency Disorder–Points to reliance on media narratives as a substitute for analysis) afflicted
Klar: Catholic funding by government in the political crosshairs
If funding Catholic charities that harbor illegal immigrants is acceptable, funding Catholic schools that prepare citizens for success should be a no-brainer.
VT Headlines: Is Vermont’s electrical grid safe from hackers?
Rutland teachers’ union, school board reach deal, preventing strike; Several farmworkers detained in Vermont to have bond hearing this week; Vermont welcomes 20 new American citizens
BC/BS premiums proposed to rise 23% for individuals, 14% for groups
Proposed double-digit health care premium increases could be even larger if a current federal tax credit expires, according to a statement released by the Green Mountain Care Board, the State of Vermont’s health insurance regulator.
Gassett: Vermont’s law violations and overspending have consequences
As AG Clark and her Vermont lawyer followers publicly rallied to protest, they showed their opposition to Vermont’s responsibility to adhere to our US Constitution. This action by a US State Attorney General and more than 300 licensed lawyers defies logic, and common sense.
Vermont Granite Museum asks local taxpayers for support
Voters will decide whether to provide $15,000
How local towns are handling the emerald ash borer
The bugs have been spotted in 96 out of Vermont’s 247 municipal areas, the state says
Senate sends prison parenting bill to governor
Under the bill, fathers in prison would be able to take parenting classes, visit with their children in a child-friendly space and talk to them via free video calls.
Soulia: H.91: The homelessness overhaul no one is sure about
In theory, it’s about moving decision-making closer to the ground. In practice, it’s raising serious questions — from whether local agencies are ready, to whether the state is gambling with programs that are already working.
Fireovid: Exposing Vermont educators
Incl. is a clip from a Zoom meeting where Vermont educators are encouraged to hire based on race and gender, rather than merit.
VT Headlines: Clergy-abuse survivors share stories as Burlington Diocese declares bankruptcy
Vermont fire crews rescue motorist who drove into pond; Addison County state’s attorney DUI case in court as trial date considered; Helicopter makes controlled landing in Williston
Roper: Bernie and the privileged political class
A teachable moment (for others, not Bernie, who will never learn).
Klar: Public school gaslights community after disciplining student for conservative tee shirt
A Vermont superintendent and an attorney for a public school that prohibited a young student from wearing a shirt that states “There are only 2 genders” now claim the school did not discipline her, and that it has consistently “[done its] very best to protect free speech in schools.” These officials are using local media to gaslight the Vermont public and the school community. The school’s own emails reveal what actually occurred.
McGuinness: School reform bill supports government-run schools, not education
Our legislature and governor are acting on behalf of organizations that are involved in the education industry complex.
Racanelli: Protect voting, reject the SAVE Act
There’s a bill in Congress to make voting harder for EVERYONE
Bernie says he’ll help Trump reduce prescription drug prices
President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday (5/12) implementing a “Most Favored Nation” policy that aims to align U.S. prescription drug prices. Sen. Bernie Sanders immediately promised he would work with Trump to turn the EO into a law and challenged the president to get onboard when he introduces legislation.
Flannery: Trump’s China pause
President Trump’s well-oiled marketing operation was running full blast this morning with the announcement of a “historic” agreement between the U.S. and China to lower tariffs. In fact, the action only reverses some of the worst of the tariffs that President Trump himself imposed on business between the two countries earlier this year, and the reprieve is only for 90 days.
Letters: Brook on Dems’ Trump fixation/ Rowell on Califailure
Also, Jeb Smith on Saving Democracy: To be a minority attempting to overthrow the majority (such as protesting Trump, trying to work against him, or obstructing his will) is to oppose the majority, to oppose democracy and its rightfully elected candidate, President Trump.
Jericho church opens ‘second coming’ in East St. J
The Catalyst Church on Raceway in Jericho – a suburban town in Chittenden County – will open a sister church in the former Third Congregational Church at 1095 East US Route 2 in East St. Johnsbury, and will be known as the Catalyst Church on Route 2.
Study: most of U.S. sheltered homeless are asylum seekers
Three-quarters of that rise in sheltered homelessness occurred in four “sanctuary” areas representing just five percent of the population—New York City, Chicago, Denver, and Massachusetts (primarily suburban Boston).
Hartford hit with reappraisal sticker shocker
Hartford recently announced major construction is needed for the high school building after learning PCB levels are considered dangerous and in need of remediation, with no help coming from the state. A lawsuit against Monsanto may be the only thing available outside of increasing taxes.
VT Headlines: Rutland parents, students weigh in as teachers move to a possible strike
Essex Westford School District warns families of ongoing PowerSchool data threats; Northern New York Rep. Elise Stefanik discusses possible gubernatorial run in Ticonderoga
Father of three daughters slain, roommate charged
They said Mitchal Shedrick, 52, was a suspect in the slaying and by 10:30 p.m. Vermont State Police said they had arrested him on the second-degree murder charge.
Baker: How to get the right people elected
One of the readers and commenters of this great news outlet asked how do we “get someone out of office?” There are many things a single individual can do. It all counts. Do not let the devil convince you that your vote or opinion doesn’t matter. Do not hide behind that weak rhetoric.
Samets and Kanarick: Jewish identity is not a political tool
Using antisemitism as a political tool does not make Jews safer. It cheapens our suffering and casts doubt on our legitimate concerns. Worst of all, it gives antisemites a powerful talking point.
CLG: VT judge orders bail for Ozturk
U.S. District Judge William Sessions said at the end of the hearing that Ozturk raised “very substantial” and “very significant” claims of First Amendment and due process rights violations in her case.
Peyton: Sad to see Vermont legislators take on the ‘White Christian Nationalists’
The initiative fell into the same trap we’ve seen repeated again and again: othering – casting Christian conservatives as the threat, and “tolerant liberals” as the solution.
Raid with flash-bangs nets multiple drug, weapon, fugitive busts
Homeless man no longer welcome at priest’s House. Assault includes hate crime beef.
Klar: Empire Wind Project’s pause has Progressives howling
Are offshore wind turbines for the birds?
Baker: Becca Balint, the selective defender of the Constitution
Balint’s defense of constitutional rights appears to be based on the political or ideological identity of those affected, rather than on a consistent belief in protecting the rights of all individuals.
Attempted murder charge dismissed in West Glover shooting
A 35-year-old West Glover woman has received a suspended sentence of three to five years after pleading guilty to shooting at a man’s truck as he left her property.
Page: Identity or disorder?
The untold connection between transgenderism and Body Integrity Identity Disorder
Fernandez: Why do they only protest Israel?
The hard-left haters of Israel utilize “shouting, slogan jeering, propagandizing, protesting, demonstrating, defunding, accusing, and/or ignoring or censoring opposing views.” The railing resistance obstructs entry, and sometimes resorts to physical violence against their passive and outnumbered opponents.
Roper: Fate of disastrous EV cars & truck mandates rests with Governor
Desperate calls for Scott to delay unrealistic, logistically impossible GWSA requirements with Executive Order.
RFK Jr., VT Dept. of Health differ on fluoride in water
RFK: Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease. VT Dept. of Health: When communities stop adding fluoride to their water, cavities go up.
VT Headlines: Vermont sees nation’s largest household income increase
South Burlington apartment fire leaves dozens displaced; South Burlington apartment fire leaves dozens displaced; Vermont films profile Cabot and Proctorsville in the aftermath of 2023 floods
Klar: Are courts doing enough to protect public health?
Given the history of American courts shielding corporations from liability for harms caused by their products — and the growing distrust of the federal agencies charged with protecting public health above corporate profits — Americans are right to question whether their judicial system is designed to keep them safe.
